Geological epochs are defined by the major events that separate them, as when green algae in primeval seas put oxygen into the atmosphere and made animal life on earth possible. Has human technology become one of these epoch-defining events?
Elizabeth Kolbert, a New Yorker staff writer who is aware and knowledgeable about the discussions and [...]
Category Archives: Science/Math
Anthropocene: What’s in a Name?
May 24, 2010 – 3:10 pm
Betting the Final Four–2010
March 30, 2010 – 9:16 pm
If you bet on the Final Four (or on almost anything), the bookie’s odds always include a built-in percentage for the house. Last year I calculated the Las Vegas Final Four edge at 9.8%.
This year the edge is so big (20.8%) that something must be wrong!
Chilean Earthquake Energy
February 27, 2010 – 12:43 pm
This morning’s devastating earthquake in Chile (8.8 on the Richter scale) had an energy equivalent of approximately 15.8 gigatons of TNT (31,600,000,000,000 lbs). To put that in perspective, it is about as much energy as would be released by 300 of the largest thermonuclear bombs ever built (the USSR’s Tsar Bomba, detonated in Novaya Zemlya [...]
Blue Moon Bloops
January 2, 2010 – 5:22 pm
According to almost every online source that commented on it, the round disk in the sky on the last day of 2009 was a “blue moon,” a term commonly used for the second full moon in any calendar month.
Commonly—and erroneously.
The internet offers near-instant access to information. It is ironic that in some cases this easy [...]
AltaRock Abandons Geothermal Energy Project at The Geysers
December 18, 2009 – 12:15 am
Since July, I have been studying and following the progress of a technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) as it has been tested by Sausalito-based AltaRock Energy at The Geysers, an active geothermal field just 12 air miles from my home in Northern California.
A week ago, New York Times reporter James Glanz wrote that Altarock [...]
Pictures of Saturn
October 28, 2009 – 5:04 pm
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, orbiting Saturn, has sent back some astounding photographs from a distance of nearly one billion miles. Click here for a couple of dozen that will amaze and intrigue.
The waves in Saturn’s A ring are formed by the gravitational pull of tiny moon Daphnis, the bright dot (only 5 miles in diameter) in [...]
Is the Production of Geothermal Energy in The Geysers a “Public Nuisance”?
September 27, 2009 – 10:21 am
Calpine in The Geysers
On September 15, less than a fortnight after AltaRock Energy halted its geothermal drilling in The Geysers, the Anderson Springs Community Alliance (ASCA), a small but formidable opponent of the AltaRock project, fired another salvo: this time charging the area’s main producer of geothermal energy with a public nuisance.
In a formal complaint [...]
Enhanced Geothermal Energy Project Halted in The Geysers
September 3, 2009 – 8:37 pm
Electricity generation in The Geysers
Late in 2008, George Bush’s Department of Energy committed $6 million to Sausalito-based AltaRock Energy (as part of a consortium…see addendum below) for energy production using Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). EGS technology works by by injecting water down a deep well into hot rock, fracturing the rock and creating steam which [...]
Buzz Numbers
July 27, 2009 – 10:15 pm
Buzz is a old and well-known car travel game.
Here’s the simplest variation. The players begin counting upwards, speaking consecutive integers aloud. If, however, the number is evenly divisible by seven or has a seven in it, you say “buzz” instead of the number. If you make a mistake or hesitate too long, you lose.
The first [...]
Enhanced Geothermal Energy and Man-Made Earthquakes (Part 2)
July 16, 2009 – 9:30 am
As described in a previous post, Sausalito-based AltaRock Energy is drilling a Lake County test well aimed at producing energy by utilizing a technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). AltaRock’s project is on federal land leased by the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA) on a ridge just above the community of Anderson Springs, CA. According [...]
